Thatcher - Roll Back Of State And Public Intervention Flashcards
What was corporatism?
-style of economic management in which the gov negotiated with representatives of business and unions in order to create a common policy on pay, prices or industrial development
Why did the Thatcher gov dislike corporatism? And what did they do?
- Believed it to be undemocratic and key characteristics of fascist governments. Also thought it hindered growth
- Abandoned the idea from 1979 by abandoning prices and incomes policies.
- Gov stopped negotiating with the major unions regarding economic policy
- Left prices, wages, investment and production to the free market
1) What was Keynesianism?
2) Why did Thatcher not like it?
3) What did Thatcher’s government do to Keynesianism?
1) Cutting taxes and increasing spending to stimulate the economy during periods of low growth
2) Believed it led to high inflation rates and that it interfered with the natural rhythms of the free market
3)
- Did not give up all forms of economic intervention
- Cut spending in order to try to reduce inflation and cut tax and manipulated interest rates in order to stimulate growth
- Economic management did not end its just the gov intervened in different ways
What laws allowed Thatcher to control the unions?
- Employment Act (1980) Criminalised secondary action, including secondary picketing
- Employment Act (1982) changed the law so that Union leaders could only impose a closed shop in an industry if they had the backing of a majority of their members in a secret ballot
- The Trade Union Act (1984) forced unions to call a secret ballot and win a majority of support prior to starting strike action
What did Thatcher do to the defence industry?
- Strengthened defence policy by increasing spending by 20% between 1979-86
- 1980 she bought Trident from the USA. Total cost for first 15 years would equal £7.5 billion
- 1981 Defence review committed the gov to increasing defence spending by 3% a year every year throughout the 1980’s. (Due to Trident)
- 1982 Falklands
- 1986 US bombers stationed in Britain were given permission to carry out bombing raids in Libya
What were the results of Thatcher’s impact on the defence industry?
- Showed she wasn’t committed to rolling back state in all areas
- Had to decrease spending in the mid 1980’s due to Trident. 18k troops were made redundant between 1984-86
- In real terms spending fell by 7% from 1979-89
What did Thatcher do to the police? What impact did this have?
- Extended their powers and got stop and searches to be carried out regularly
- Police operated a continues policy of stop and searches in the heavily black area of Brixton which then triggered the Brixton riots
What acts were passed to enlarge police powers?
- Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) expanded police stop-and-search powers, giving them new rights to search cars and enter properties
- Public order Act (1986) Gave police new powers to arrest and charge people involved in demonstrations and pickets. It created the new offence ‘disorderly conduct’ which allowed police to arrest people using insulting words
- As well as the above the gov allowed the upgrading of police equipment such as riot shields, plastic bullets and CS gas
Why do some people blame the free market for needing to increase police powers?
-Many thought it created mass unemployment, which in turn led to more crime that needed more policing to manage
What is GCHQ? What did Thatcher do to GCHQ in 1984?
- Responsible for providing the gov with secret Intelligence through intercepting and monitoring communications
- Banned workers from belonging to unions as she said it threatened national security if they striked also she felt that unions were the enemy within and believed they were socialist organisations therefore she did not want people who were soviet sympathisers involved in government.
What was the Zircon affair and what did it highlight?
- In 1985 Scottish journalist Duncan Campbell uncovered evidence that the gov was planning to launch a satellite that would intercept transmit ions from across British, Europe and the USSR. In 1986 He worked with the BBC to produce a documentary about it. The gov wanted to keep it secret so banned the documentary and when he gave the story to the observer they took away all his research legally banning him from publicly speaking or writing about his research
- Showed the government’s willingness to interfere with the media and ignore the constitution in order to protect state secrets
What other instances did the government use its powers to interfere with the media?
- Spycatcher (A memoir of a former MI5 officer) was banned in England and Wales in 1985 and press coverage of the book was also banned in England an Wales. Available in Scotland
- 1988 government banned the broadcast of interviews with members of the IRA
- Gov put pressure on broadcasters to drop programmes on the SAS and the conflict in NI
To what extent was there a crisis of civil liberties in the 1980’s?
- Gov defended decisions to protect info but critics stated that the gov was using their powers to block freedom of speech
- Newspapers were unable to successfully challenge the gov in English courts as at the time English law did not guarantee freedom of speech
- European court of Human Rights did overrule server all government bans including the banning of Spycatcher
What impact did thatcher have on Law and order?
- Law and order budget increased 36% between 1979 and 1989
- Prison population rose from 42k in 1979 to 48k in 1989 (Highest per capita in Europe)
What was the ‘right to buy’ and why did Thatcher introduce it?
- gave tenants in council houses the right to buy their homes
- Blieved that owning a property gave people a stake in society, and therefore gave people a reason to behave responsibly
- Believed that property ownership was an important aspect of freedom. She believed that people living in their own houses were independent of the state compared to those who lived in state owned houses who were dependent
- Believed the private sector would build better houses
